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Author Topic: % Confidence in Earth's Shape  (Read 88882 times)

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% Confidence in Earth's Shape
« on: August 02, 2022, 05:03:38 PM »
Curious about people's position and their certainty in the position they hold and maybe a quick description of your beliefs. Before the FE discussions I would say I had 95% confidence but have thought of some interesting FE arguments that definitely erode my certainty.

My position: Globetard
Confidence in Earth being a globe?: 85-90%.
Definitely not dogmatic GE but from independent observation (amateur astronomer and radio operator, looking to get into radio astronomy too) I believe the Earth is a globe. Cosmologically beyond that there is a lot of uncertainty for me though. I am a Young Earther.

Re: % Confidence in Earth's Shape
« Reply #1 on: August 02, 2022, 05:35:04 PM »
It's difficult to quantify, but I guess I'll try.

My position: "true earther"
Confidence in Earth being a globe?: 40-50%

What I mean by "true earther" is that I'm not going to categorize myself as either a "globetard" or "flat earther" because both have their faults. Yet, I lean more FE because of the testimony from Scripture and some of the proofs in favor of FE. I can't discount the globe entirely, but, we also need to get to the core of what constitutes a "globe earth" anyway? To me, a globe can either be the common depiction of the earth with the land wrapping around the spheroid and resting on its surface; or, a flat plane enclosed within a globular Firmament, much like a traditional snow globe. I lean towards the latter idea, which is also contrary to the common misrepresentation of the flat earth being a literal circular pizza-pan "planet" floating in space; or the more zany conceptions of it being a puddle among other puddles upon a gargantuan spheroid snow ball.

I guess mine is a hybrid of either position. The shape is unimportant to me in the end. What is important is the cosmology, which points toward an enclosed system with the earth being synonymous with the universe itself; rather than an endless sea of planets in the void of "space" extending forever. There is a limit, or border, to our universe/world; beyond which is the realm of the spirit, the Heavenly realm, which is encompassed further by God Himself (which is not a "place").

Again, like the attached images (that I've posted ad nauseum)


Re: % Confidence in Earth's Shape
« Reply #2 on: August 02, 2022, 06:19:54 PM »
I guess mine is a hybrid of either position. The shape is unimportant to me in the end. What is important is the cosmology, which points toward an enclosed system with the earth being synonymous with the universe itself; rather than an endless sea of planets in the void of "space" extending forever. There is a limit, or border, to our universe/world; beyond which is the realm of the spirit, the Heavenly realm, which is encompassed further by God Himself (which is not a "place").
Thanks for the thoughtful post. There is some interesting stuff to explore here I think and there is a lot to articulate but I don't necessarily think debate threads are a good format because there is close to 0 nuance and it is just looking for owns.

What do you think of the Middle Ages conception of cosmology with the concentric rings and a firmament on the edge of the solar system? I always thought this GE model was interesting but I am generally about independent observation so for me the confirmable universe is only out to Saturn or so in terms of what things look like. Beyond that I really can't independently confirm individual objects. I've attached an image of the model I have been thinking about lately.

How we are to conceptualize heaven I surrender to Faith and no matter what human conception leads me to think there is a heaven and it is compatible with the reality we are in. There are interesting arguments about heaven, Dante seemed to believe the model I posit. The image isn't 100% the model I am talking about but is an interesting and beautiful image :)

Re: % Confidence in Earth's Shape
« Reply #3 on: August 02, 2022, 06:36:34 PM »
Thanks for the thoughtful post. There is some interesting stuff to explore here I think and there is a lot to articulate but I don't necessarily think debate threads are a good format because there is close to 0 nuance and it is just looking for owns.

What do you think of the Middle Ages conception of cosmology with the concentric rings and a firmament on the edge of the solar system? I always thought this GE model was interesting but I am generally about independent observation so for me the confirmable universe is only out to Saturn or so in terms of what things look like. Beyond that I really can't independently confirm individual objects. I've attached an image of the model I have been thinking about lately.

How we are to conceptualize heaven I surrender to Faith and no matter what human conception leads me to think there is a heaven and it is compatible with the reality we are in. There are interesting arguments about heaven, Dante seemed to believe the model I posit. The image isn't 100% the model I am talking about but is an interesting and beautiful image :)
Dante held to the Ptolemaic system, which is basically what you're describing with planets in concentric rings around the earth. I'm in agreement with that system for the most part, as it coincides well with just what we observe in the skies and what is found in Scripture. Edit: Added Dante's cosmos for comparison, and you'll note also that he divides the earth itself into various "hemispheres", which is more or less similar to what I posit above as the "snow globe" earth model, rather than the modern "beachball" model.

There's an interesting collection of visions from Bl. Hildegard von Bingen that describe the universe as well. I posted about it a while back after comparing what I read in Dr. Sugenis' book on Hildegard versus the actual prophecies and visions themselves (let's just say he has to stretch her words A LOT to make it fit his weird, hybrid, modern-geocentric cosmology). She proposes not only the rings of the planets, but also those of fire, ether, and air which contain the stars. Which, interestingly, Sugenis compares to the observations of astronomers in regard to background radiation and the "baby pictures of the Big Bang".

https://www.cathinfo.com/fighting-errors-in-the-modern-world/sugenis-hildegard-and-the-cause-of-gravity/msg798720/#msg798720

Offline Ladislaus

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Re: % Confidence in Earth's Shape
« Reply #4 on: August 02, 2022, 06:49:16 PM »
99% flat surface with domed firmament

I've tried to take the "devil's advocate" side and demonstrate to myself that the earth is a globe.  I do this all the time with various issues.  I perform a thought experiment where I believe that the earth is a globe and I'm debating a flat earther.  What's my proof/evidence?  NASA photos.  So much fakery with NASA that it can't be used.  Eratosthenes' sticks?  Depends on how far away the sun is.  Radio waves moving around the earth?  We have no idea what they could be bouncing off of.  Firmament?  Something else?  After all, they claim that radio waves can bounce off the ionosphere.  I urge you to do the same thing, DL.  If you believed earth is a globe, what would your evidence be.  It would be cool to have a thread where people leaning flat earth would present their best evidence in favor of globe earth.

I can't buy the explanation for the "see too far" phenomenon as "refraction", especially in light of the two-way experiments that have been performed, the clarify of objects seen too far, etc.  Results are simply too consistent and too clear for me to be able to convincingly apply the deus ex machina explanation of refraction.  Besides, refraction is not a proof of globe earth, just a counter to flat earth that's convenient.  But has anyone done the math to positively prove that refraction is taking place?  Never.  They just pull it out like a rabbit from a hat, and they simply pull out a word or a concept.

Someone ran the numbers on the world's faster jet, that it would have to nose-down an astonishing amount every second of flight, like nearly 1,000 feet (can't recall the exact numbers), but it would have to be at a perfectly constant rate to avoid fluctuations in altitude up or down.

I leave the 1% there because it's theoretically possible that all the experiments performed have ben faked, but I find it highly unlikely, or because another theoretically-possible explanation is that we live on a globe that's MUCH larger in circuмference/diameter than science claims.

And the notion that a pressurized atmosphere can exist without a container and adjacent to a nearly perfect vacuum I find utterly absurd.  Gravity cannot explain the phenomenon.

There are simply too many problems with globe earth that I can offer no convincing explanation for.

Stationary earth, 100%.